I’m rereading the Auel books for the whatever time now, and while I like the storyline, there is something about the books getting on my nerves.
Basically - where was Auel’s editor? This last book took twelve years to come out and there are parts of it that read like a bad first draft. Not the phrasing or the spelling - the repetitive content. Example: In at least two places, Auel overly explains that the Zelandoni have two joining ceremonies at the summer meeting. Auel has Marthona explain this before they leave. Fine - interesting detail, got it. She then repeats the entire explanation when they get there. Did she think we forgot?
An even worse example: In The Mammoth Hunters, there is a little vignette where Ayla first encounters bartering. She gets upset because she thinks the characters are actually mad at each other. Fine - very humorous, explains the culture. But in Shelters of Stone, the entire episode is played out again - Ayla thinking two characters are mad at each other, Jondolar having to explain it. Ayla is not a dunce. We are now supposed to think she forgot?
My point here is that a good editor should have caught these and others. The repetition is jarring, and frankly detracts from a series I enjoy. So here is the question: Anyone else have examples of continuity errors/repetitions that actually detract from the quality of an otherwise enjoyable artistic work?
Many, many bestselling authors do not get edited, and this has been true for decades. There are rumors that some actually have it in their contracts that their manuscripts must be accepted as is.
For the most part, however, I suspect that either they look at the editor’s suggestions and dismiss them or else their manuscripts get turned in so late that they don’t go through the normal process. The fifth Harry Potter book will certainly fall into the latter category.
Also, I may add, a lot of publishing companies have fired their full-time editing staffs, and use freelancers and spell-check. I make sure I send my manuscripts to half-a-dozen friends to comb over before it goes to the publisher.
Right now I am reading a book from a reputable publisher chock full of typos, misspelled names and factual errors. V. depressing, and the author must be seething.
Eve - yeah it’s that part of the process that is bugging me. It’s similar to a continuity error in a film, but in this case, its not on the level of a missing watch, it’s more like a character in a completely different outfit when they walk outside. Not a question of artistic vision, just the sort of sloppiness that I would expect to be caught during a manuscript revision.
I do think in many cases the editors are scared to mess with a good thing. Shelters of Stone is very very repetitive of both itself and earlier books in the series (Ayla must tell her story 10 times in full, vs just saying “and she repeated her story to a rapt audience.”)
Or look at Diana Gabaldon’s latest book, “The Fiery Cross.” Seriously, the first 200 pages are like the Ulysses of Time Travel romance – every minute of a day revealed in exacting, repetitive detail. I think the series has been so sucessful they don’t want to “ruin” it by editing. Of course this has the opposite effect.
There’s a terrible editing job in the fifth (of a zillion, I know) Wheel of Time book by Robert Jordan. Basically, there’s a battle, and the Bad Guy is killed. Someone takes that message to Our Hero. Then, literally only a couple pages later, Our Hero surprises everyone by knowing that the guy is dead. And the original message wasn’t sneaky-like - you’re supposed to think that Our Hero just has instinctive and supernatural ability. I read this scene like ten times, trying to figure out what I was missing, but it seems clear to me that one of those conversations was supposed to have been edited out.
You could make a case that the entire Wheel of Time series is missing an editor, or it wouldn’t so goddamn long, of course.
